stimp774

so i got this xj about a year ago and you can see from the profile photos it looks pretty decent. it was undercoated from the factory which helped alot but thats wearing off now. i have some light rust bubbling on the bottom of the door. the seat base were rusted so i pulled them to repair that. drivers side was not bad at all just wire wheeled, rust converter, and rustoleum paint, replaced all fasteners with galv. then the passengers side. pulled the carpet back and found this mess.

So now the questions is should i get a mig welder and do it myself? or pay the body shop? im thinking pay on this one. not sure i have the space or want the money wrapped up in the tooling for this one job once its done. i dont do this kind of work ever.

but then i think about the bubbling on the door and its like where do i draw the line between trying to keep this nice and a full on restoration to hunt down and cure every piece of rust which is losing battle.

how much should a body shop charge to weld and seal a replacement floor pan in ?

btw in the photo what looks like a piece of metal over the rust is just some like dynomat liner thing he put down.

this jeep had a bad evap core which i fixed and im guessing the evap core was draining down into this floor pan causing this problem, the rest is all good still white paint mostly.

any thoughts?

stimp774

guys my bad , im sure i posted this in the wrong place. please have a moderator move it.

PocketsEmpty

You could get some Chassis Saver or POR15 and go over it if it's not rusted completely through. That's what I'm going to do when I rip up my carpets

stimp774

you can see in the photo one small area where its open, but i dont think its bad. I am familiar with POR 15, so that would work because it dries hard and it encapsulates the rust right?

i was planning to spray under with rust convert and undercoat after.

ArmyGuy

I had the same problem (check my build), and I am a "all or nothing" sort of person so I ripped everything out, which requires a hefty investment in a welder, cutting tools, ect. I look at it like this, you will use good tools your entire life so don't look at the tools as spending money soley on the jeep. If that isn't in your budget, find somebody with a little mig welder. You can get sheet metal dirt cheap. If you did all the prep work, most guys with a welder would weld in a patch panel for 20 bucks and a 12 pack o beer, it isn't hard, the PREP is the hard part and the expensive part. A shop would charge you a small fortune, find somebody to do it or help and learn as you go.

PocketsEmpty

Right. I have a bit of rust repair to do myself, and I'm coating EVERYTHING in Chassis Saver, and Monstalining the rest of it. I have a nasty hole in my rocker panel and I'm cutting out all the rotted metal and filling it with fiberglass bondo, sanding it down, chassis saver, and monstalining that. Should be good enough and long lasting--if it goes again one day I'll be getting someone to weld in some rock sliders instead. I'll probably end up using the bondo in some spots on my floor too.

You could also cut it out and rivet some sheet metal in and use seam sealer around that, some guys around here have done that as well.

ccooper1234

I just did my floor in monstaliner today. My floor had a little surface rust on the front passenger side but I sprayed some rust converter primer on it. But Chassis Saver sounds like a good product.

Plastic Wrench

I would pull all the mat off, take a drill with a wire brush, and clean everything up. It could be better, or worse, than it appears.

See what you've got to work with, and get a plan together. If it's just a couple of small holes, you could epoxy or rivit a small patch in. If you know someone with a small mig machine, it'd be an easy project.

stimp774

as plastic wrench suggested i cleaned it all up with a wire wheel on a grinder and here is how it looks now. structurally it feels ok except the one spot where you can see a few small holes clustered together.

what do you think? is it bad enough to require some new metal patched in?
or would some bondo or fiberglass with chasis saver work?
would a new floor pan be easier or overkill?

you can see where it looks like i peeled up something sticky. it was this sheet of like roof repair like sticky rubber on the bottom and like tin foil on top. was that for sound dampening? or meant to protect from rust? is that a factory thing or did the previous owner do it? I have 3 sections of that stuff on the floor with no logic to where it was placed. you can see it protected the floor where it was. it was very tough to get up. just curious what it is and its purpose.

thanks

PocketsEmpty

Looks much nicer after the clean-up. Up to you what to do, personally, I'd maybe make a little steel patch and pop-rivet over that and seam-seal it, and then Chassis Saver or POR15 the rest and call it a day

stimp774

UPDATE: so i got busy with work and the jeep was sitting in the driveway over 3 rainy days. Perfect chance to see if this was all due to a water leak. As the picture shows it was. Had a nice little puddle of rain water and soaked carpet.

So now the question is where is the leak coming from? Research says bad windshield seals are a big cause. is it the original glass. in the other picture you can see the upper left area and it sure looks to open to me. in fact if you look close where they placed putty sealer in the corner at the bottom its wet and looks like a little gap.

Gee oh Dee

Thats not rust. Check my "build thread" first few pages show some real floor rust....

I patched mine using a $100 welder. Still working well to this day, couple years later...

stimp774

not sure if the pic posted

stimp774

Dude you are as crazy as Armyguy. Armyguy basically fabricated a new xj. lol

I am not into that level of work. my neighbor asked me the other day if I would know how to fix his fridge. LOL said I look handy always working on my jeeps.

Plastic Wrench

Stimp,
It looks like you're on the right track. I have a similar situation on a 94, and had to sit in it during a downpour to find the leak. If it's leaking around the windshield, you can generally find evidence of drips behind the kick panel.

BTW, windshields in the later years seem less likely to leak than early ones.

Check the weatherstrip at the a-pillar, along the angled portion of the front door. Water can come off the roof gutter, and run down into the gap between the door and the a-pillar.

Eric